Manufacturing & The Economy

New orders for manufactured durable goods in February increased $5.0 billion or 2.2% to $229.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Wednesday. This increase, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, followed a 1.3% January decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.2%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.8%.

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in February, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, increased $2.0 billion or 0.9% to $234.0 billion. This followed a 0.6% January decrease.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in February, up ten of the last eleven months, increased $3.2 billion or 0.8% to $392.3 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis, and followed a 0.3% January increase.